Rock band publicity photo for Cat Mother, December 1971, the
first photo sold by Nicholas
Wilson.

It was 40 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to
play, and in late December of 1971 Nicholas Wilson sold a
photo from his first roll of black and white film. It was the
above publicity
photo for the renowned rock band Cat Mother (formerly Cat Mother
and the All-Night Newsboys). That photo launched his career
as an independent photographer, which included fine-art photo
shows at Bill Zacha's original Bay Window Gallery, and later at
the Highlight Gallery and the Mendocino Art Center Gallery. Wilson
recently began showing at the Mendocino Coast Photographer Guild
Gallery in Fort Bragg, where he will be the featured artist in
March 2012.

Mendocino's historic Odd Fellows
Hall gallery reopens on Second Saturday, Dec. 10, with a group art
show featuring Nicholas Wilson and Friends celebrating his 40
years as a documentary and fine art photographer. The Full Moon
Second Saturday opening party starts at 5 pm and continues until
it's over, with live music and slide shows. The show runs from
Dec. 10 through Dec. 26 from 11 AM to 5 PM most days. Evening
hours and more slide shows are planned for Saturday Dec. 17.

Joining Wilson in the show are
several well-known artist friends: painters Robert Ross and
Eduardo Smissen, graphic artist John Chamberlin, zany sculptor and
multimedia artist Larry Fuente, ceramicist Christopher Cisper and
multimedia artist Molly Boynoff. Ross and Smissen will show
amazing paintings and prints; Chamberlin will show his unique
poster and sign art; Fuente will have something new and surprising
as well as vintage pieces; Cisper will have skillfully made
pottery, ceramic sculptures and drums; and Ms. Boynoff will show
some of her work in textiles, paper and other media.

Wilson is the author of the photo book "Mendocino In The Seventies."
His photos have been published nationally and internationally in
magazines, newspapers, books, films and video. He was the
documentary photographer aboard two anti-whaling voyages, first with
the Mendocino Whale War in 1976, and then with Greenpeace Hawaii in
1977.

Wilson will show selected prints
from his documentary photo archive as well as some new work. Besides the
physical art work, there will also be a HDTV screen with a serial
display of images, including more of Wilson's images and also
"slides" representing the work of other artists in the
group. While this will not be a comprehensive retrospective
exhibit for Wilson, he does plan to show examples of the many
kinds of photography and subject matter he has done over the
years.

For more information and schedule
updates please email mail@nwilsonphoto.com or check back here for
updates. Odd Fellows Hall is located at the
corner of Kasten and Ukiah Sts. in Mendocino, California.

A new view of Mendocino across the bay with the
Mendocino Music Festival's big 850-seat concert hall tent in place for
the 25th season. Click on the photo to see a web photo gallery of more than 300 photos
from the festival. The tent can hold more than the entire population of the town according
to the 2010 census figures. The annual festival attracts musicians and
patrons from far and wide. The photo was taken July 17, 2011 from Brewery Gulch Drive (old Coast
Highway) south of town.

(Archived 12/7/2011)

The Mendocino Film Festival just concluded its sixth season June 3-5, 2011. This
photo shows an earlier year when the box office was located in the oldest
building in Mendocino: the Kasten-Heeser House, built in 1852 with the first
lumber milled in Mendocino. It was remodeled into a unit of the Mendocino Hotel
Garden Suites.

On July 25, 2009, the Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra and
Chorus under the direction of Allan Pollack performed the Mozart Requiem as the
finale to the festival's 23rd season. The festival's 16,000 sq. ft. symphony hall tent held approximately 950 audience members in addition to the
200 musicians on stage, including 163 chorus members. The town's population is
only about 1000.

View
the July 4 photos as a Flash Slide Show. After the slide show
starts - if you have a high speed
connection - you can click on the full screen button for big, screen-filling
images. Don't go full screen if you have a dial-up connection. You can
order prints and DVDs from the slide show or the album view.

(archived 7/10/2008)

Veteran folksinger, storyteller, Wobbly and radio personality
Utah Phillips passed away at his home in Nevada City, CA, on May 23, 2008. In
this 2006 photo Utah poses backstage at the Kate
Wolf Memorial Music Festival with his traveling companion Valentine, given
to him by his kids Brendan and Morrigan on Valentine's Day, so he wouldn't
be lonely on the road. Click here for more photos of Utah
and the official obituary from his family. (An earlier version of this caption
included incorrect info about who gave Valentine to Utah. Apologies for the
error.)